New Usage Monitor in BlackBerry 6 Shows You CPU Usage & More

I was playing around with the settings on the BlackBerry Torch 9800 when I came across these totally new options screens under Settings->Device->Application Management. If you scroll right and left you will see totally new screens that I have never seen before. They give you some insight into the performance of your BlackBerry and finally let you clear up applications that are slowing down your device.

Here is a simple description of the screens:

CPU Usage: This lets you view what is currently using your CPU along with how close to 100% you are getting. The slick part is that it trends this information so you can view it for today or the whole week.

Application Usage: The view simply shows you how many hours and minutes you have been using your BlackBerry. It will also break down the information showing you how long you spent in each application. You can view the information for the current day or for the whole week.

Memory Usage: This view shows you what is using all of the RAM on your BlackBerry. It is sad that RIM finally releases this view when we finally have 512mb of RAM but it will still be useful on older devices like the 9700 when they get BlackBerry 6. You can see this view based on current usage or trended for the day or week.

Application Storage: This view simply shows you what applications are taking up space with their installation. This way you can easily delete bloated applications. I am just loving seeing the meter read 303mb free… 🙂

Now if only RIM could come up with a way for us to view which app is causing the most battery drain… That would be cool. I guess you can assume that from CPU usage but it would be useful to see if it was Viigo or Slacker that was the battery killer. I would also like to see them create a view that shows you how much data and minutes you have used since there is no good way for 3rd party devs to collect data usage.

I recently wrote an article about how I wanted a memory management tool for my BlackBerry. On Android this is build and even on the iPhone you can buy a tool so this is GREAT news. The only sad part is I needed this greatly on my Storm where memory is limited. On the Bold 9650 I have no concerns about memory. Hopefully RIM will back port this tool for people with devices that only have 128 MB RAM

What would really be nice is the ability to kill an application if it is lagging or acting up. I’ve had issue with crAPP World where it is still working in the background but I can’t access it. Only thing to do is a battery pull.